Parvana, who is 11, lives with her family in one-roomed bombed-out apartment flat in Kabul. Parvana's father was a history teacher in Kabul until his school was bombed out, leaving him unhealthy. He works from a blanket on the ground reading and writing people's letters who cannot do it for themselves. One day he was arrested for having a foreign education and [he was the only one in the?] family who is allowed to earn money for food. When problems get serious the only solution comes up. Because Parvana is forbidden to earn money as a girl, she must cut her hair and pretend to be a boy to become the breadwinner.